Walt Disney Archives Exhibit at Reagan Library Video

Video by Jeff Lange.

A highlight of the exhibit, a recreation of Walt's old office is showcased here as well as other old and new Disney films. You can find old Disneyland/WDW antiques/souvenir and old audio-animatronics on display.

Re: Walt Disney Archives Exhibit at Reagan Library Video

Thanks, Langen Fox! My seven-year-old and I spent Saturday, July 14, at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley primarily because of the "Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives" exhibit. Forgive me for reprinting tips & observations I already posted on another thread, but I thought that someone might get something useful out of this list.

1. I recommend a trip to Simi Valley for this and the rest of this presidential library! There is some nice gardening surrounding the buildings. What a beautiful place!

2. We were in the Disney exhibit for just about one hour. My daughter surprised me by liking the Reagan museum much more than the Disney displays. The "permanent" Reagan museum has been re-done and seems more energetic and far more interactive than it was before. We spent over five hours at the Reagan part of the Reagan Library and my seven-year-old and I were never bored.

2. There are two places for lunch, the "pub" near Air Force One, and Reagan's Country Cafe. We ate at the latter and the turkey reuben sandwich I had there may have been my favorite sandwich of all time. Make sure to take a lunch break. If you order your tickets in advance, I wouldn't also buy a meal in advance. We didn't and I liked seeing & smelling all that Reagan's Country Cafe had to offer, including specials of the day that cost less than the pre-ordered meals.

3. I ordered our tickets before we got there, and these same Disney tickets included admission to the Reagan museum. But beware: another Micechatter reported that if you buy an AP for the Reagan Library, your Reagan AP will not include admission to the Disney exhibit. So I'd recommend just getting tickets for the Disney exhibits in advance, right before you leave for the library. The lines were not bad at all, and the times we signed up for to enter the Disney exhibit were not enforced. The Disney displays are in the back of the Reagan museum, but you may bypass the presidential displays and go there directly. But don't miss the presidential displays. My pre-second grader enjoyed filming herself in a scene with Reagan, moving a metal ball through a labyrinth past holes that represented things that could go wrong when planning a presidential visit, crawling through an escape "tunnel" from East Berlin, and playing video games projected from above about how a middle-class family could prosper in the 1980s.

4. Outstanding staff!

5. There is a small art exhibit of art by a former Soviet Union citizen who had been held in a USSR gulag. This was an interesting exhibit to balance the Disney displays.

6. The enormous room that holds an Air Force One used by Reagan has amazing views! You can imagine the jet about to soar over the beautiful hills you look down upon. (Any plane a current president flies in is defined as "Air Force One.") Touring Air Force One was my daughter's favorite part of the day. If you've never been to the Reagan Library and if your Disney ticket includes admission to the Reagan exhibits, I think that skipping the Air Force One exhibit would be a big, bad mistake.

7. We read a short biography for children, "Who is Ronald Reagan?" from Barnes & Noble over the three days before we went, which increased my daughter's interest. (Next up: "Who is Barack Obama?")

8. The Disney exhibit was as much about the company as about Walt Disney himself, and a display of costumes from recent films seemed out of place, but it was well-done & interesting so I didn't care. A Hall of Presidents display and some letters from Presidents to Walt were right at home.

9. Maybe get there via the 118 (The Ronald Reagan freeway) from the north, though the 134 to the south is scenic while driving west of Woodland Hills.

10. The gift shop has some pricey but really cool merchandise for this exhibit. (Many years ago when I paid $35, $35, & $50 dollars for three books autographed by Reagan at this gift shop I wondered if I overpaid. They are now selling in this store for $4,000 each.)